


The Vulture

by Rokatsu



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Body Horror, F/M, Horror, Married Couple, Mental Health Issues, Mental Ilness, Mental Instability, Monster - Freeform, Monsters, Original Fiction, Vulture - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 11:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16136588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rokatsu/pseuds/Rokatsu
Summary: There’s a monster out there that not many people know of. It’s slow, sinister, and deliberate. It takes its time, waiting for its next unsuspecting victim, before it pounces. It can take many forms and has the capability to cause mass destruction. Most victims do not notice it’s there until it’s too late. When they do notice, no one believes them, unless they too have been taken over by the beast, or know of someone who has been taken over.





	The Vulture

There’s a monster out there that not many people know of. It’s slow, sinister, and deliberate. It takes its time, waiting for its next unsuspecting victim, before it pounces. It can take many forms and has the capability to cause mass destruction.  


Most victims do not notice it’s there until it’s too late. When they do notice, no one believes them, unless they too have been taken over by the beast, or know of someone who has been taken over.  


There was a man who led an average life. He had no horrible childhood or youth of which to speak of, he had a family, a wife and kids, and a nine to five job at a business firm. As far as he was concerned, everything was fine. He was happy. Was. Until one day.  


He woke up on a dark and rainy Monday morning to his alarm clock, turned the device off, and climbed out of the sheets and the limbs of his wife. He padded to the bathroom, wiped his groggy eyes and wet a facecloth. He then brought it to his face, making sure to wash and wipe thoroughly. However, as he brought the cloth down, he saw something terrifying.  


The man screamed, which woke up the entire house. When the wife rushed in to see what was going on, she found her husband curled up on the bathroom floor and sobbing. She’d never seen her husband like this before, and after getting him to calm him down, she helped him up off the floor. He looked into the mirror again, but it was gone. The creature he swore he saw sitting on his head was gone. He desperately tried to explain what he’d seen to his wife, but she only shook her head and told him to go make some coffee. That would knock some sense into him.  


  


  


She didn’t believe him.  


  


  


The man was hurt by his wife’s careless dismissal of what he swore he experienced. Still, he hoped she was right and dismissed it as well. His wife comforted their worried children while he prepared their breakfast, but he felt himself unable to concentrate. The beast kept appearing in his mind. After breakfast, he’d kissed his wife and kids goodbye and headed to work.  


Over the next following months, the creature kept appearing. It always was in the same form, and always sitting atop of his head. Apparently, it had been there for a very long time, and he’d only noticed it that Monday morning. The beast would speak to him, and he would worry that his family could hear. However, they never seemed to notice the monster, so he presumed he was the only one who could hear it.  


The beast never said anything kind to the man. It made him doubt his family cared or loved him. It made him feel worthless and useless. It made him feel empty and hopeless. At it’s worst it made him want to die. It always sat on top of his head, in the form of a large black, ugly hulking vulture. Its claws were digging deep into his skull like a parasite, drawing blood. Sometimes the man was used to the feeling and could ignore it. Other times, the vulture would dig them in even deeper, and he’d feel the pain all over again.  


Over the months it had become more and more visible to the man, to the point where he could see it even outside of a mirror. It never went away, following him even into his dreams. Ever since the vulture came, he found himself no longer able to function normally. His job wasn’t doing so well since his boss and coworkers were getting angry with his careless mistakes and poor concentration. He’d been threatened that he’d be fired several times. He was frustrated and stressed with himself, and even his wife and kids were getting fed up with him.  


At this rate, he would lose everything, all because of the vulture. He’d tried to tell his family about the vulture several times, but they never believed in him. His wife was starting to think he was insane. Maybe… maybe he was. An idea occurred to him then, perhaps he should try to talk to the vulture. “What is your name?” The man asks the creature. With its red, beady eyes, the creature glares hatefully towards him. A dark swarming aura surrounds the surreal being, which had seemingly grown as time went on.  


“Why should I answer you?” The vulture mocked. “Because, I want to know if I’m insane or not!” The man cried, clutching his aching skull. “You are insane.” The being growled spitefully, digging its claws in even deeper. The man realized then he would get no answers from the monster, so he had a last resort. He made an appointment with a psychiatrist and was now sitting in the woman’s office.  


After some questions and testing, the psychiatrist announced, “The vulture you speak of is a manifestation of your inner pain. Or in psychiatric terms, depression.” The man gasped, eyes widening at the answer. It gave him a revelation. He was not mad! He was not insane! He had depression! A mental disease that did not need a reason to manifest. That could come for even the most seemingly happiest person in life.  


It was no wonder his wife and kids didn’t believe him. They didn’t have the disease. In his joy for finally discovering what was wrong with him, the man thanked the shrink, made another appointment with her, and returned home to tell his wife and kids the news. His family felt regret for not believing in him, and began to help support him in dealing with the vulture.  


Gradually, over the months the vulture began to shrink in size and even became manageable. Its claws didn’t sink into him as deep, and it talked less often. It still never went away, stuck to him like a parasite with the threat of coming back stronger in the future. However, with his willingness to manage the disease and the support of his family and understanding from his work, the man found a way to live with the vulture.

**Author's Note:**

> A short story I wrote for a College assignment. Also in the spirit of Halloween/October which is coming up. I hope this story can give some people a sense of what it's like to have or struggle with depression. I could expand on it and make it better but I wanted to keep it to two pages since I have more assignments to do. I hope you enjoyed it!


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